"I went to Marcia with a debilitating fear of heights that before long would have restrained my life, now I have claimed back control. The freedom this gives me now is exhilarating!"

Natasha, Faversham

Life clinics helped me enormously with my confidence issues and later my phobia of snakes, or anything resembling them, which was rapidly spiralling out of control. I couldn’t imagine ever being able to cope with this issue but I was shocked at how quickly Marcia’s techniques helped me get over my fears and helped me regain control of the situation. I now know that it is possible to tackle any issues that may arise and come out the other side. I particularly like the CD provided, which, along with the tapping techniques, allows me to relax and prepare for any situations that may challenge my confidence.

Female 20s, Ashford

Fears & Phobias

What is an irrational fear or phobia?

A phobia is an irrational fear, literally a fear without good reason, or a fear of something that may not happen. People with phobias often experience unwanted responses to animals, objects, insects, actions or places.

This physical response is known as a stress response; people often describe their reaction to something as being “paralysed with fear” or “having butterflies in my stomach”, “just wanting to run away” from whatever is triggering the response.

People with phobias often know their response is irrational, which makes it harder to accept. 'Why am I reacting like this when I know it can’t hurt me'?

Phobias are far more common than many people realise. It is estimated that more than 11% of the population have some kind of irrational fear.

Generally people manage their phobia on a day-to-day basis and only seek help when it prevents them doing something they want to do, or when they know a situation will force them to face it. People are also aware of the possibility of unconsciously passing on their phobias to their children, who learn from their behaviour.

People often say to a therapist, “you’re my last resort” or “my final hope”. The most common phobias we see are:

Fear of flying

Fear on enclosed spaces

Fear of vomiting (often linked to social phobias)

Fear of insects, or animals

Fear of heights

Fear of needles

Fear dentists

Fear of Pregnancy

Fear of water

Fear of Illness

However people can develop a phobia for anything.

How do people get phobias?

An irrational fear of something is often a learned behaviour, sometimes from a parent or a respected friend or relative. It is part of the body’s natural defence system: often phobias are exaggerated fears of evolutionary memories; imprints on our brains that help protect us through caution, making us innately awareness of something that could harm us.

For example, we know there are poisonous spiders in the world that can hurt us and even kill us, so we have an awareness of that on a primal level. However, a house spider in the UK is completely harmless. A person with a phobia is unable to make this differentiation.

We may develop a phobia because of a traumatic experience or series of experiences (you may not remember consciously what this experience is). As a small child we learn about fears from our parents, as they teach us (consciously and unconsciously) how to live and relate to the world around us. If you see your parent being frightened of a spider, your instinctive response and the message hardwired to your brain is that this is a threat and can harm you too.

Over time, when you see a spider that message is reinforced, so it is exposure to that fear which compounds it and makes it worse.

How do you treat phobias?

Generally, the solution is to see that phobia in a different context starting from an objective perspective and then gradually building up exposure from a minimal to comfortable level.

Using hypnosis this can be done rapidly as the unconscious is able to process information more effectively without the interference of the critical mind. This is a known as desensitisation.

Often phobias can be treated in just one session. There is, however, no guarantee as change depends on the individual’s willingness to embrace it. Most therapists will therefore give you a realistic expectation of how long treatment may last.

adapted from the National Council for Hypnotherapy hhttp://www.hypnotherapists.org.uk/hypnotherapy/fears-and-phobias/ - 24/08/2013

At Life Clinics we are likely to use a combination of tools to help you gain freedom from a phobia. On their own Hypnotherapy, NLP, TFT and CBT are powerful tools for overcoming phobias, the beauty at Life Clinics is that we are trained in all these tools making our treatment even more effective.

So if you are looking for phobia help in the Kent area or a qualified hypnotherapist in Kent that can help you overcome your phobia then please contact us we will be delighted to help.

"I approached Julie after much research into the best methods available to help my son resolve a number of very serious phobias he has had since a young child. As he was now 15 it was beginning to interfere with his school work, especially Biology and Sports Science, the reason for this was due to his phobias being, blood, bones and the heart.

Julie very quickly established herself as his confident and between them they worked together over 6 weeks, working through his very severe reactions he had just even talking about these subjects.

The NLP and Hypnosis along with some immediate visualisation processes meant he could see and feel improvements by week 2. He realised by changing his thought process he could overcome the challenges that had been there all his life. He looked forward to each meeting, knowing he was heading towards a worry free life and as a result his confidence grew.

Julie is now a very special person in our lives and our son no longer even remembers what or why bones, blood and the heart ever gave him any issues. Quite frankly, it’s a miracle!"